SEOUL, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- South Korea's Shinhan Bank said Wednesday that the lender has joined the $246.5 million Hardest-to-Reach Initiative, headed by Acumen, a nonprofit global impact organization.
Built on a combination of public and private financing, the initiative is aimed at bringing energy access to people in the least electrified regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, including such countries as Malawi, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.
The Acumen program consists of two vehicles: one that provides impact-linked loans to enterprises and another that builds markets through a mix of equity, debt, grants and technical assistance.
The project is expected to enable around 70 million people from 17 African countries, who are still living in darkness, to gain off-grid solar access, thus avoiding the emission of 4 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to Acumen.
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